Boy, I was excited about the return of Tim Allen to primetime last night on Last Man Standing. Home Improvement helped mold my sense of humor and views on situational comedy (plus a decade long crush on JTT).
Certainly, there were some hilarious lines:
“I’m living with LORD VOLDEMORT!”
But, I couldn’t help feel that I’ve seen this all before. Except instead of three precocious sons, we have three high maintenance and annoying daughters. Most of the humor seems like recycled primitive man grunt jokes. The testosterone-filled humor worked on Home Improvement. We had Jill, the intelligent, take-no-crap wife, playing perfectly off Allen’s jokes. There was heart there. I found the chemistry between the leads in Last Man Standing non-existent, and nothing could balance out the non-stop barrage of low-brow, borderline-cruel jokes.
Once again, my persistent optimism has nipped me in the fanny. Though I always give a new series at least two weeks to hook my interest, I have a premonition of syndicated episodes of Home Improvement in my future.
